Method and means for the metallization of wood



INEO DE VEGCHIS, O]? ROME, ITALY.

METHOD AND MEANS FOR THE METALLIZATION OI WOOD.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I. INEO DE VEooHIs, a subject of the King of Italy, and residing at Galleria S. Marcello, Rome, Italy, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in' Methods and Means for the Metallization of Wood, of which the following is a specification.

The object of the invention is to metallizc wood so as to render it indestructible by parasites, atmospheric agents and the like,

also to increase its resistance against tensile, compressive, bending and other strains and on the whole to impartto it such qualities as to render it of almost metallic structure.

This object is attained, according to the invention, by treating the wood with a liquid which consists of a concentrated solution of cupro-ammonic sulphate of double sulphate of ammonium and zinc and of double sulphate of ammonium and magnesium, some well-known substance of high antiseptic efiiciency being added to this solution in suitable quantities.

In some cases it may be found convenient to replace the double sulphates of ammonium and zinc and of magnesium and ammonium either wholly or in part by the corresponding double chlorides. I

Immediately before starting the treatment of the wood, the above described solution is suitablydiluted and a certain quantity of free alkali is added to it.

The treatment of the wood is carried out in the following way.

The wood to be treated is put into a suitable container adapted to resist an inside pressure of about 15 atmospheres. This container is then hermetically closed and a vacuum is produced therein by aid of a ump used in combination with a condenser.

he suction operation is continued for a longer or shorter period of time according to whether the wood to be treated has been more or low seasoned and during this phase of the treatment the container may also be heated if desired. This initial treatment serves to eliminate the sap from the vascular bundles of the wood.

As soon as the interior of the'container has been sufiiciently exhausted, the pum is stopped and the described solution is suc ed up into the containeruntil same has been completely filled, a suitable cock and piping being provided for this purpose.

A pump is then set to work to introduce Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 8,

Patented Mar. 7, 1922.

1920. Serial No. 372,342.

solution into the container and to compress same therein, an outlet cock provided in the top part of the container being held open during this operation to permit the escape of the air which may have remained within the container after it has been filled with solution, and to avoid thus the formation of air-cushions which would be very detrimental to the final results of the treatment.

As soon as solution is beginning to flow from the container through the outlet cook, the latter is closed and the pump continues to work until the required hydraulic pressure has been attained within the container, which pressure may vary from 8 to 14 atmospheres according to circumstances.

The apparatus is maintained at this pressure for a certain period of time which will of course vary in accordance with the nature of the wood under treatment, whereafter the container is emptied, opened and the treated wood taken out of it.

It may sometimes be found suitable to cause the compression period to be followed by another suction period, either cold or warm, before taking the treated wood out of the apparatus.

The liquid may be used again for successive treatments, when it will only be necessary to replace the lost elements by a new concentrated solution and to restore the required alkalinity of the liquid by adding free alkali, which can very easily be done in practice on the basis of a summary chemical examination of the solution employed.

The wood withdrawn from the container is left to dry in the open air until it has been reduced to the weight which it would have had if it had been seasoned in the ordinary way, this being rendered possible by the small weight of the mineral substances which remain in the wood. The drying process will of course be continued for a greater or smaller length of time in accordance with the nature of the wood and the extent to which it had previously been seasoned, also with the climatic conditions under which the drying ,process is carried out.

The treatment which will be suitably adapted to the quality and the age of the wood to be treated, may also be applied to wood which had not previously been seasoned, in which case the short period of the final desiccation will -be followed by a considerable dimunition of the specific weight which will thus be reduced almost precisely to that of seasoned wood, and in this way the purpose of seasoning wood artificially is attained.

Experiments have shown that this new method of metallization of wood attains entirely the scope for which it has beenv designed, as according to it various substances of perfect chemical congruity are employed which are each adapted to impart to the fibers one of the features to be obtained by the new treatment. Thewood treated in accordance with the new process is incorruptible by animal and vegetable parasites, has a maximum resistance against atmospheric agents and more especially against moisture, also against tensile, compressive and other strains, it has a special metallic resonance and will not easily split when other bodies, such as screws, bolts and so on are driven into it, and the wood is rendered also almost completely incombustible and may be made quite incombustible by suitably increasing the dose of magnesium.

What I claim is: v 1. A composition for treating wood comprising a solution of double salts of copper, zinc and magnesium with ammonium.

2. A composition for treating wood comprising a solution-of double salts of copper,

zinc and magnesium with ammonium, and a quantity of free alkali.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses at Rome this fourth day of March, 1920.

DR. INEO DE-VECCHIS.

Witnesses ANGELO CAvA'rToNI, TORELLO Fom'om. 

